Thininification > Oscar

Take a look at Jennifer Hudson on the cover of SELF. As you know, I’ve been cutting my eye at her for the last little while over the whole “let’s make her popular since she’s thin now!” situation. For the media to fixate on this is one thing. What bites my ass is that she’s kinda bought into it too.

"I didn't even know I was considered plus-sized until I came to Hollywood. I thought I was the perfect size! (Then I was asked) ‘How does it feel to be plus-sized in Hollywood?' I looked around, like, Who is she talking to? Oh, me? I'm plus-sized? In the neighborhood I'm from in Chicago, a 16 is normal. But in Hollywood, everyone looks exactly the same, so I stood out. (When I got pregnant) I thought, hold on – why doesn't anybody know I'm pregnant? And I wanted to set a good example for my son.”

Now she’s 80 lbs lighter and yay! a size 6. And achieving this, she tells the magazine, is a greater accomplishment than winning an Academy Award:

"I'm prouder of my weight loss than my Oscar!"

Am I being super buzzkilly if I say that the message I get from this is that success associated with a career is less satisfying than success associated with appearance? The other side of that argument of course is that she worked hard at her HEALTH, and she is celebrating that fact that she is HEALTHY, and if she wants to declare that she finds that more significant than a statue bestowed by Hollywood frauds it’s her business and anyone who disagrees can f-ck off. Yeah, I see that too. But if that’s the actual meaning, I’m not sure it’s being conveyed that way. Right now the only flashing lights I’m seeing form the words Thin > Oscar. You? Please share your thoughts. (We really should get a liveblog going one of these days, shouldn’t we?)